1. Field of Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate in general to communication over the Internet. More specifically, the embodiments of the invention relate to a method and a system for the evaluation of the quality of voice of communication over the Internet.
2. Description of the Background Art
Networks such as the Internet are widely used for voice communication. Voice communication techniques such as Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) have emerged as alternatives to the conventional techniques such as Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN). The VOIP technique transmits voice information in packets of data. Voice information is encoded and compressed to form a data packet. Thereafter, these packets are transmitted over the network by the means of various Internet Protocols (IP) such as User Datagram Protocol (UDP) or Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP). RTP is an Internet-standard protocol for the transport of real-time data, which includes audio and video data. RTP is used in voice-over-IP architectures, for video conferencing, media-on-demand, and other applications. The data packets transmitted in the network are carried from a source to a destination by utilizing switches. A switch is a network device that selects a path to send a unit of data to its next destination;
In the process of voice communication over the networks, the quality of voice (QOV) may deteriorate due to loss of packets, delay in data transmission, instability or fluctuation of the data transmission with time and the like. The quality of voice can be improved by an analysis and measurement of voice quality when the data is being transmitted.
An existing method uses Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) to measure and analyze the quality of voice. In this method a copy of data packets received at an intermediate switch is forwarded to a remote station for analysis of the quality of voice. However, the data packets are not time-stamped at the intermediate switch. As a result, the exact location where the quality of voice is affected in the path of the transmitted data cannot be identified. For example, it may not be possible to locate a particular switch where the data loss occurred.